US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6672

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 006672 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KWBG, IS, GOI INTERNAL 
SUBJECT: PROBLEMS UNLIKELY TO IMPEDE EARLY JANUARY 
GOVERNMENT FORMATION 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
. 
 
1.  (C) Problems with prospective coalition partners Labor 
and United Torah Judaism are delaying PM Sharon's efforts to 
put together a viable coalition, but should not prevent 
establishment of a new government in early January. 
Negotiators are generating alternative mechanisms to give 
Labor leader Shimon Peres a suitably august title and to give 
UTJ the additional authority over its religious institutions 
that party leaders seek.  Sharon and Labor leader Peres both 
continue to display confidence that they will bring together 
a majority coalition. 
 
2.  (C) The Attorney General forced a backstep when he 
chastised hard-racing negotiators for trying to change 
overnight the country's constitution-like Basic Law to give 
Peres an "acting prime minister" title like currently held by 
Ehud Olmert.  As a result, negotiators are now pursuing a 
change to the separate "Government Law" that would give Peres 
a "vice prime minister" title.  The action leaves Olmert with 
all of his current powers and retains his clear designation 
as acting prime minister should Sharon to be incapacitated. 
This proposal, or another with a similar aim, is likely to 
speed through committee and full Knesset approval the week of 
January 2. 
 
3.  (C) UTJ is having second thoughts over its "price" for 
joining the coalition.  UTJ leaders, who continue to decline 
taking Cabinet seats, reportedly are now seeking a greater 
degree of independence from the state education system for 
their religious institutions.  Observers indicate that 
Sharon, who was willing to see the secular Shinui party leave 
the coalition as the cost of bringing in a religious party, 
will come up with a formulation that keeps UTJ in his new 
majority coalition. 
 
4.  (C) Within his own party, Sharon faces continuing efforts 
by disengagement foe Uzi Landau to derail the new coalition 
-- and thus disengagement itself.  Landau and about a dozen 
other Likud MKs say they plan to vote against a 
Likud-Labor-UTJ coalition.  Sharon, however, requires only a 
simply Knesset majority for government formation, and, with 
expected abstentions, he appears to hold a 56-42 majority in 
favor. 
 
5.  (C) The closer Sharon gets to the critical January 
Cabinet vote on evacuation of settlements, the stronger the 
motivation for Labor to have secured its seats at the Cabinet 
table.  As the disengagement vote approaches, so too does the 
deadline for passing the budget, providing an incentive for 
UTJ to sign on and secure the financial and other gains it 
has negotiated as its price for joining the government.  In 
addition, the longer negotiations take, the more UTJ leaders 
will face pressure to walk away from a coalition deal.  Prime 
Minister Sharon's Haredi (ultra-orthodox) affairs advisor, 
Rivka Paluch, told the Ambassador this week that UTJ 
spiritual leader Elyashiv is coming under pressure to not 
join the coalition from settlers who are deluging him with 
letters claiming severe emotional suffering by the children 
of settlers scheduled for evacuation.  Elyashiv also 
reportedly fears that a Labor Party Minister of 
Communications might liberalize laws regulating Internet 
pornography. 
 
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Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website. 
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KURTZER